Fa La La La La La La La La... Sorry I'm still in the caroling mood :-). Last night a group of around twenty adults, teens, and children gathered here at the church and went out into the community to sing Christmas carols and collect canned food for the Monroe Food Bank. With a carafe of cocoa in hand and joy in our hearts we set out to spread the Christmas cheer around our city while working to help others in need. We had the kids who were four and younger ring the door bell or knock and hand the people in their homes a card that asked for canned food donations. It was inspiring to watch young children get excited as they ran to the doors of peoples homes to sing them songs and ask for donations. Every person who opened the door welcomed us with a smile and each person was extremely thankful we stopped by. One house had a sign that said no religion, no solicitation, no politics and one of the kids rang the doorbell before I could stop them. They opened the door and we apologized that we had seen the sign after we rang the doorbell. She told us it was okay and enjoyed the music as we sang about Christ and donated food. It's amazing how the season of Christmas softens peoples hearts, where at any other time they would yell at you for knocking on their door, they welcome you with a warm smile and a generous donation. Another door was opened to us and a women and her children grinned from ear to ear as we sang to them. After we finished she let us know that they had a really difficult day and that our singing lifted their joy and was exactly what they needed.
We finished the evening back at the church with cocoa, cookies and candy canes. We all had an incredible time spreading the joy of the season. People are open and soft to hear the message of Jesus Christ during this season. Don't miss the opportunities that are all around you during this time. One way to seize this opportunity is to invite everyone you know to our Christmas Eve services at 5pm, 6:30pm and 8pm here at The Rock Church.
12/13/07
11/7/07
U R Beautiful
You're Beautiful; you’re beautiful it's true. From the words of James Blunt, which I happen to be listening to right now that it might inspire me to write this blog post, you’re beautiful. How many of you out in the blogisphere have ever felt the opposite of beautiful? I certainly cannot count on my fingers and toes how many times I have felt ugly whether inside and out. I think all of us struggle with a desire to be beautiful, especially in the eyes of someone we like or love. We want to be beautiful. We want to feel beautiful and we want others to see us as beautiful and because of this desire so often we compromise our identity, our image and ultimately our beauty by trying to be beautiful in the eyes of another. Let me give you an example.
In 8th grade I was in "love" with this girl. I wanted so badly for her to like me yet every feeble attempt to do so failed. I changed the way I dressed, talked, and acted. I even changed my likes and dislikes to try and get this girl to like me. I wrapped up whether or not I was beautiful in this one girl and in doing so wrapped up my image and identity in her. When she ended up wanting nothing to do with me I was crushed. Not only did I not think I was beautiful, but because my identity and image was in her, I didn't know who I was or was supposed to be. As Matthew 10:39 says, whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. NIV. What does this mean? It means that if we try to find our beauty, image, identity i.e. life in another person, in an occupation, hobby, sport and on and on we will lose our life... our identity, beauty, image. BUT! If we lose our life to Him, if we say, "God I surrender trying to find myself in everything else and I lose my self in you," we will find our life, image, identity and beauty.
U R beautiful! We cannot look to others and other things for our beauty, identity and image. We've got to lose our self to Christ and in doing so find life. U R beautiful! You are made in the image of God, by the hands of God, according to His perfect design. You are perfect in His eyes and He calls you beautiful. Lose yourself in Him.
In 8th grade I was in "love" with this girl. I wanted so badly for her to like me yet every feeble attempt to do so failed. I changed the way I dressed, talked, and acted. I even changed my likes and dislikes to try and get this girl to like me. I wrapped up whether or not I was beautiful in this one girl and in doing so wrapped up my image and identity in her. When she ended up wanting nothing to do with me I was crushed. Not only did I not think I was beautiful, but because my identity and image was in her, I didn't know who I was or was supposed to be. As Matthew 10:39 says, whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. NIV. What does this mean? It means that if we try to find our beauty, image, identity i.e. life in another person, in an occupation, hobby, sport and on and on we will lose our life... our identity, beauty, image. BUT! If we lose our life to Him, if we say, "God I surrender trying to find myself in everything else and I lose my self in you," we will find our life, image, identity and beauty.
U R beautiful! We cannot look to others and other things for our beauty, identity and image. We've got to lose our self to Christ and in doing so find life. U R beautiful! You are made in the image of God, by the hands of God, according to His perfect design. You are perfect in His eyes and He calls you beautiful. Lose yourself in Him.
10/21/07
U R Made
"I am an accident." I cannot tell you how many times I have heard those words and every time it breaks my heart because U R Made. Each and every one of us is custom, tailor made by the hand of God. In fact there are three things we need to know about how we were made.
First God thought about you before He made you. In fact, you were thought of long before He even said, "let there be light." Think about it. God is creating the earth, speaking things into existence and when He gets to the creation of man He stops and thinks about how He's going to do it. He says, "Let us make man in Our image." He thought about it, He pondered how He was going to create you. He thought about the eyes, the nose, the ears, the smile, the personality, the family and the location you would be born. He even thought about the time period you would be born. You were and are thought about. If God thought about you so intricately how then could you be an accident? You couldn’t be, accidents are unplanned, and you were planned by the God of all creation. God thought about you and still thinks about you.
Second, God didn't just think about you He made you... with His own hands. Everything else in creation was created by the Word of God, but man was made with the hands of God in the image of God. You are hand crafted by God. He intricately wove you and made you in your mother’s womb. He made you! U R made. He gave you that smile, don't hide it or hate it. He gave you that family, love them. He gave you your personality, be who you are. You are made by the hands of God.
Third, you have the breath of God in you. Mankind is the only part of creation that God breathed His life into. The very first breath man ever took was the breath of God. Mankind is the centerpiece of creation because the breath of God resides in all of us. This is why no matter what you have done you can still accomplish what God has for you as long as there is breath in your lungs because that breath is God's and He designed you with a purpose in His image.
You were thought of, made by God's hands and you have His breath inside of you. He is the designer and you are His design. We have got to get to know our designer, so that we can live according to the design He set forth for us. You are not an accident, you have a design and the designer, God, has a plan for you!
10/18/07
Pugs!
My wife loves pugs! She has wanted one since I first met here and on Monday we had to go to the pet store to get food for our cat. On our way there as I am about to pull out onto the road, she screamed. With adrenaline pumping through my veins and eyes as big as saucers I looked at her and with an elevated voice asked her what was wrong. With joy and delight she said back, "they have pugs at the pet store." We got there and for 15 minutes she watched with delight as they laid on one another. They were pretty cute and after having to say no about 30 times to the question, "can we get one?" It is safe to say that in the near future there will be a puppy pug in the Warren household.
10/16/07
The ditches of prayer and the Word
I don’t know about you but I can tend to be an extremist. When I find a hobby I like I go to the extreme in that hobby and pursue only that hobby leaving my previous hobbies left to mourn my absence. When it comes to my times with God I have found the same to be true. I go through seasons where I am very Word focused and all of my time is spent reading the Word and times where I am prayer focused and all of my time is spent in prayer and recently God has been showing me that a balance is necessary.
Picture with me if you will that you are walking down a road. This road represents your spiritual journey. The easiest and quickest route is in the middle of the road. This is because it is the healthiest place for you to be. On either side of the road are two ditches. One ditch is the Word the other is prayer. (I cannot believe I am referring to the Word and prayer as a ditch, but go with me). It is extremely easy to find yourself only focusing on one and ending up in a ditch. While it may be the best ditch you’ve ever been in it still slows you down spiritually and creates an unbalanced spiritual diet.
In John 7:37-39 Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as the Water we drink when we find ourselves thirsting. The Holy Spirit is the water. Psalms 16:11 says that in God’s presence is fullness of Joy and Nehemiah 8:10 says the joy of the Lord is our strength. This means when we are weak we get into God’s presence, drink of the water, and get filled with joy and that joy becomes strength to us.
In John 6:35 and 48 Jesus says that He is the bread of life. Earlier in the book of John in the first chapter it says that Jesus is the word in flesh. Matthew 4:4 tells us not to live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (the Bible). All this tells us that the Word is our bread. When we read the word we stand in authority. Jesus used the Word to repel the devils temptation. When we read the Word we also receive faith Romans 10:17.
What does all this mean? Our natural bodies need both bread (food) and water to survive. If we only drink water we will become weak and eventually die and if we only eat bread the same fate awaits us. Spiritually if we only read the bible and leave no time for prayer or vice versa we will become spiritually weak and struggle to survive spiritually. Reading only the Word and not taking the time to pray leaves you in a thirsty place with little or no joy and grace. Praying only and not reading the Word leaves you in a place with little or no faith and authority. We need both. If you find yourself in a place lacking strength, joy, authority, faith, grace, evaluate your water and bread intake, get in the middle of the road and run faster than you’ve ever run before.
Picture with me if you will that you are walking down a road. This road represents your spiritual journey. The easiest and quickest route is in the middle of the road. This is because it is the healthiest place for you to be. On either side of the road are two ditches. One ditch is the Word the other is prayer. (I cannot believe I am referring to the Word and prayer as a ditch, but go with me). It is extremely easy to find yourself only focusing on one and ending up in a ditch. While it may be the best ditch you’ve ever been in it still slows you down spiritually and creates an unbalanced spiritual diet.
In John 7:37-39 Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as the Water we drink when we find ourselves thirsting. The Holy Spirit is the water. Psalms 16:11 says that in God’s presence is fullness of Joy and Nehemiah 8:10 says the joy of the Lord is our strength. This means when we are weak we get into God’s presence, drink of the water, and get filled with joy and that joy becomes strength to us.
In John 6:35 and 48 Jesus says that He is the bread of life. Earlier in the book of John in the first chapter it says that Jesus is the word in flesh. Matthew 4:4 tells us not to live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (the Bible). All this tells us that the Word is our bread. When we read the word we stand in authority. Jesus used the Word to repel the devils temptation. When we read the Word we also receive faith Romans 10:17.
What does all this mean? Our natural bodies need both bread (food) and water to survive. If we only drink water we will become weak and eventually die and if we only eat bread the same fate awaits us. Spiritually if we only read the bible and leave no time for prayer or vice versa we will become spiritually weak and struggle to survive spiritually. Reading only the Word and not taking the time to pray leaves you in a thirsty place with little or no joy and grace. Praying only and not reading the Word leaves you in a place with little or no faith and authority. We need both. If you find yourself in a place lacking strength, joy, authority, faith, grace, evaluate your water and bread intake, get in the middle of the road and run faster than you’ve ever run before.
10/9/07
Tire Trouble
As I was lounging around on my day off enjoying the football highlights on Sports Center and praying that the Yankee's would lose that night I got a call from my beautiful and incredibly talented wife. As she used the ever troubling, "you'll never guess what happened line," my mind ran through a gambit of thoughts and potential horror until she revealed the purpose for the call. "Um babe, my tire blew up and I'm on I-5 near Mountlake Terrace." She revealed that her friends husband was on the way and would fix the problem. Unfortunately I was relived that I wouldn't have to leave the comfort of my lay-z boy and Sports Center.
After a failed attempt to remove the tire, I was called out of the bullpen to retire the side. Annoyed I hoped into my car toting a hammer and some other tools, showed up onto the scene and pounded the tire off the car. Before this the gentleman helping proclaimed that I would be his hero if I could get the tire off. About 10 Seconds later the tire was off and I was another persons hero. We ended up a Les Schwab in Lynnwood and $270 later she had some new tires and I had new (badly needed) windshield wipers.
After we got home and I had a chance to process my reaction and emotions to the whole situation I realized something. I had changed. When we were dating if she had the littlest hang nail she couldn't fix, I would mount my trusty stead and don my shinning armor and come to her rescue. Now after two years of marriage she's in a real crisis and I'm annoyed. God began to confront me on this issue. Often serving others is not difficult, but serving those closest to you and who you love the most is. It's as if you get so comfortable being around them all the time you forget they need help too. It's often more difficult to serve a parent, a spouse, a sibling or a close friend than a total stranger and yet we should serve all regardless of how much they love us.
It's funny this happened because a week ago I preached on picking up a towel and serving others. We cannot sit at the table of life and just wait to be loved and serve, but rather we must get up from the table, pick up the towel, as Jesus did and serve. Where was my towel yesterday? It shows all of us need to keep growing even after we think we have it down. I learned a valuable lesson yesterday and died to self a little more. I will note however that I redeemed myself by vacuuming and doing laundry when we got home. :-)
After a failed attempt to remove the tire, I was called out of the bullpen to retire the side. Annoyed I hoped into my car toting a hammer and some other tools, showed up onto the scene and pounded the tire off the car. Before this the gentleman helping proclaimed that I would be his hero if I could get the tire off. About 10 Seconds later the tire was off and I was another persons hero. We ended up a Les Schwab in Lynnwood and $270 later she had some new tires and I had new (badly needed) windshield wipers.
After we got home and I had a chance to process my reaction and emotions to the whole situation I realized something. I had changed. When we were dating if she had the littlest hang nail she couldn't fix, I would mount my trusty stead and don my shinning armor and come to her rescue. Now after two years of marriage she's in a real crisis and I'm annoyed. God began to confront me on this issue. Often serving others is not difficult, but serving those closest to you and who you love the most is. It's as if you get so comfortable being around them all the time you forget they need help too. It's often more difficult to serve a parent, a spouse, a sibling or a close friend than a total stranger and yet we should serve all regardless of how much they love us.
It's funny this happened because a week ago I preached on picking up a towel and serving others. We cannot sit at the table of life and just wait to be loved and serve, but rather we must get up from the table, pick up the towel, as Jesus did and serve. Where was my towel yesterday? It shows all of us need to keep growing even after we think we have it down. I learned a valuable lesson yesterday and died to self a little more. I will note however that I redeemed myself by vacuuming and doing laundry when we got home. :-)
10/3/07
My blog, my blog where for art my blog?
To be totally honest, I struggle to blog on a consistent basis. If you've ever visited this page you can observe that I have not blogged in nearly five months. This makes me a bloser or blog poser. I have decide however that from here on out I will post on my blog about something every week. My goal is to work up to every day, but for now it will be every week. Sorry to those who have waited in patient anticipation for me post. I vow to thee that I will blog or my name is not TRAVIS LEE WARREN. Sorry got a little dramatic and theatric there.
Halo 3
Last Tuesday at 10:30pm I walked into Wal-Mart to purchase my very own copy of this years hottest game. The last time they released a Halo game I was there. Needless to say I am a fan and thoroughly enjoy the first person shooter. As we walked to the electronics section we discovered that a store open 24 hours was forcing us to wait outside in the cold to buy the game. Quickly I found myself an $8 fleece blanket purchased it and waited outside. Come midnight they began to let us in, in groups of twenty. I saw several people attempt to sneak in line and were met with contempt as the gaming community or nerd herd looked out for it's fellowman by protecting those who waited. At around 12:30 I purchased my copy and left with fellow gamers Pastor Rory and Shaun my brother. I took the following day off to play the game with the brotherhood of Halo fans. While have barely played the game it has lived up to the hype and continues to be a great avenue for fun!
5/9/07
TVM Saturday Nights
On March 24th we took a HUGE risk and changed our weekly youth service (6th to 12th grade) from Wednesday night at 7pm to Saturday night at 8pm for 9th grade to 24 years old. We also added more emphasis and man power (namely a band) to our Sunday morning Jr. High Service (6th - 8th grade). It has been an incredible ride and God has continued to show his faithfulness. Last year when I took over the youth ministry and became the full time youth pastor at The Rock Church we were touching 60 people a week. Now, a year later, we touch nearly 150 people a week with our Grid Friday Night outreach (40+ and most that come do not attend church), our Saturday Night Service (70+) and our Sunday Morning Jr. High (35+). All three have a different dynamic and are a lot of fun. Saturday nights, however, are crazy. From the foyer setup, to the music and lights, to the preaching it is an amazing service. One person came to me a few weeks ago and said, "I don't understand why this place is not packed with students." I told them that it would be an that it would take time. If you are a TVMer and have not been you need to come check it out. If you do come you need to invite everyone you know. God is going to grow this thing like crazy, so sit down, buckle up and enjoy the ride.
Worship
Sick Guitar shot
National Day of Prayer Sedro Woolley
Last Thursday five of my guy leaders and I went to Sedro Woolley High School to preach the word for the National Day of Prayer. A young lady in our youth ministry (Gina) set up a prayer rally in their auditorium and asked me to preach for 20 minutes. To my knowledge this is unheard of in this state. A school allowing a student to have a pastor come in and preach Jesus Christ and give an alter call before school. Maybe this is allowed, but rarely does a student put it together like Gina did. Huge props to her, I pray more young people in all youth ministries will begin to do the same.
At the event there were about 20 people, most of which were not Christ followers. In fact, there were several atheists there, including one teacher who was strongly against this event. There was even one person that professed to be a Buddhist. Side note when I gave the alter call I mentioned that the only way is Jesus Christ and he looked up and seemed to receive it. The title of my message was the side of the road. I told a story about blowing up my car and ending up on the side of the road. I also told a story about running my Dad over on the side of the road. Then I talked about the blind men on the side of the road. Many people have been run over by divorce, depression, drugs, situations, life and find themselves on the side of the road of life, blind and lost, waiting for someone to help them. The two blind me cried out, "Son of David have mercy on me." In doing so they received help. I encouraged them to cry out to Jesus when they are on the side of the road or when someone they love is in that place.
It was well received and afterwards three girls came to Gina and told here that they wanted to come to her church. One even told her that she was broken and in need. It was an incredible day with a ton of potential to grow. I am so proud of Gina and the team. Keep up the great work!
Sedro Woolley High School
The Auditorium
Me preaching
My brother and Adam
The infamous Justin Crouch
At the event there were about 20 people, most of which were not Christ followers. In fact, there were several atheists there, including one teacher who was strongly against this event. There was even one person that professed to be a Buddhist. Side note when I gave the alter call I mentioned that the only way is Jesus Christ and he looked up and seemed to receive it. The title of my message was the side of the road. I told a story about blowing up my car and ending up on the side of the road. I also told a story about running my Dad over on the side of the road. Then I talked about the blind men on the side of the road. Many people have been run over by divorce, depression, drugs, situations, life and find themselves on the side of the road of life, blind and lost, waiting for someone to help them. The two blind me cried out, "Son of David have mercy on me." In doing so they received help. I encouraged them to cry out to Jesus when they are on the side of the road or when someone they love is in that place.
It was well received and afterwards three girls came to Gina and told here that they wanted to come to her church. One even told her that she was broken and in need. It was an incredible day with a ton of potential to grow. I am so proud of Gina and the team. Keep up the great work!
Sedro Woolley High School
The Auditorium
Me preaching
My brother and Adam
The infamous Justin Crouch
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